The UN Vote on A Palestinian State

Herbert I. London
Hudson New York
19 May '11

http://www.hudson-ny.org/2131/un-vote-palestinian-state

The United Nations this September will attempt to create a Palestinian state through political mandate. This, as is par for the UN, is not merely an attempt to justify the political aspirations of Palestinians, but rather to punish Israel.

This initiative should be seen against a backdrop of Muslim imperial ambitions.

Israel lies directly on the fault line of Islam's territorial aims. This tiny nation of six million is the bulwark in the war with jihadists. Facing close to 300 million enemies in nations nearby, Israel stands between the survival or the defeat of the West. Those Israeli eighteen year olds who are sent into battle allow parents in the United States to sleep safely in their beds at night as their eighteen year olds go off to college while Israeli eighteen year old go off to war. Israel is the defender of our interests, the first line of defense in our "long war."

Israel, of course, is a thin reed on which to rest a civilization, but it is a steel reed that time and again has demonstrated its mettle. Many in Europe and a growing population in the United States contend that Israel should be abandoned to "redress" Muslim grievances, whether caused by Israel or by their own neglectful and corrupt governance. But should abandoning Israel gain traction, it would not bring solace to the West. A world without Israel would not be a safer place; it would usher in a tide of aggression as Islamists saw the West bend to their will. If Israel goes, the fragility of the West will appear as provocatively apparent.

As a consequence, it is time for a wake up call. Liberty is in the cross-hairs and the defender of that liberty, of our liberty, are the children of Israel. They are our chosen people sacrificing their blood so we may remain immune to the incursions of Islamic imperialism.

Islam is more than a religion; it is a religion qua political movement. Through sharia law, there are rules for the society and for the behavior of every individual. As presently constituted, Islam is not compatible with democracy. The pillars of democratic capitalism – individual rights, the rule of law, the preservation of private property, equality of women – are not part of Islamic tradition; they actually run counter to it.

Like many other religions, Islam conceives of the world through the lens of good and evil. Islamic theology has two spheres in perpetual conflict: the House of Islam and the House of War. The House of Islam (dar al-Islam) embraces territory where sharia is the law of the land, while the House of War (dar al-harb) comprises the rest of the world. According to the Koran, the House of Islam is enjoined by Allah to make war upon the House of War until the House of War is permanently assimilated into the House of Islam. While this war is sometimes hot and sometimes cold, it is, according to Islam, timeless and permanent until sharia reigns over the globe.

This is what Samuel Huntington understood to mean the "clash of civilizations." Most religions, of course, distinguish between believers and non believers, but Islam goes further, drawing a distinction between political and legal regimes: those in submission to Islam and those in rebellion. As the West is largely in rebellion, it is the challenge to be overcome.

That UN vote in September should be understood in this setting. Here is a systematic effort to vanquish Western civilization, using the Palestinian question as a tactical instrument. Fifty-seven Muslim nations have raised the stakes in this ongoing struggle, and if there were ever a time for the Western nations to mobilize their influence and assert the Judeo-Christian tradition that is the foundation stone of our way of life, this is it. Israel may be on the front-line in this struggle, but what is in question involves every person in the West.

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